Plant-based biofungicides: A balance between protection and soil health preservation
Abstract
Plant-based biocontrol products are promoted as sustainable alternatives to synthetic pesticides, yet their potential non-target effects on soil microbial communities remain poorly investigated. Because these communities play a central role in soil functioning, assessing their responses to such products is essential. In this study, we evaluated the impact of a plant-based biocontrol product tested as a crude extract (Ext) and a formulated version (Form), as well as the triazole fungicide mefentrifluconazole (Fung), on soil microbial communities. Treatments were applied at the recommended dose (×1) and a tenfold higher dose (×10), used as a high-exposure scenario, in a controlled incubation experiment. Soil enzymatic activities, community-level physiological profiling (CLPP), and carbon mineralization were monitored over time. The fungicide caused significant but transient effects on soil enzymatic activities, whereas microbial functional diversity showed only trends toward differences compared with the biocontrol treatments. However, multi-enzymatic indexes indicated a significant decline in soil enzymatic functioning 63 days after fungicide application. CLPP analysis suggested a slight reduction in overall microbial metabolic activity in the Fung ×10 treatment, with variations in amino acid substrate utilization patterns. A trend toward higher carbon mineralization was observed during the first 10 days under the Fung ×10 treatment. In contrast, at the ×1 dose, biocontrol treatments showed limited effects on carbon mineralization, with Form and Ext showing responses comparable to the control. Overall, plant-based biocontrol treatments showed limited effects on soil microbial functioning under the tested conditions, whereas the synthetic fungicide induced short-term functional disruptions. These findings highlight the importance of considering soil microbial responses in the environmental assessment of plant-protection products.
Related
- Dietary licorice improves carcass yield, hepatocellular protection, gut health, oxidative status, and cecal bacterial balance in broiler chickens.
- Editorial: Enhancing plant stress resilience: innovative roles of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) in sustainable agriculture and crop protection
- Identification of Antioxidant Plant Extracts and Garcinia amplexicaulis Metabolites with Ferroptosis Inhibitor-like Chemical Properties for Alternative Crop Protection
- Plant resilience: harnessing bioactive compounds for sustainable disease protection
- Strain-specific protection of intestinal barrier by heat-treated plant-derived lactic acid bacteria via distinct tight junction modulation
BibTeX
@article{penaud2026plantbased,
title = {{Plant-based biofungicides: A balance between protection and soil health preservation}},
author = {Valentin Penaud and Adrien Gauthier and Wassila Riah-Anglet and Aude Bernardon-Mery and Murilo Veloso and Isabelle Trinsoutrot-Gattin and Karine Laval and Abdelrahman Alahmad},
journal = {Applied Soil Ecology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.apsoil.2026.107518},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05825706v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Plant-based biofungicides: A balance between protection and soil health preservation
AU - Valentin Penaud
AU - Adrien Gauthier
AU - Wassila Riah-Anglet
AU - Aude Bernardon-Mery
AU - Murilo Veloso
AU - Isabelle Trinsoutrot-Gattin
AU - Karine Laval
AU - Abdelrahman Alahmad
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - Applied Soil Ecology
DO - 10.1016/j.apsoil.2026.107518
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05825706v1
AB - Plant-based biocontrol products are promoted as sustainable alternatives to synthetic pesticides, yet their potential non-target effects on soil microbial communities remain poorly investigated. Because these communities play a central role in soil functioning, assessing their responses to such products is essential. In this study, we evaluated the impact of a plant-based biocontrol product tested as a crude extract (Ext) and a formulated version (Form), as well as the triazole fungicide mefentrifluconazole (Fung), on soil microbial communities. Treatments were applied at the recommended dose (×1) and a tenfold higher dose (×10), used as a high-exposure scenario, in a controlled incubation experiment. Soil enzymatic activities, community-level physiological profiling (CLPP), and carbon mineralization were monitored over time. The fungicide caused significant but transient effects on soil enzymatic activities, whereas microbial functional diversity showed only trends toward differences compared with the biocontrol treatments. However, multi-enzymatic indexes indicated a significant decline in soil enzymatic functioning 63 days after fungicide application. CLPP analysis suggested a slight reduction in overall microbial metabolic activity in the Fung ×10 treatment, with variations in amino acid substrate utilization patterns. A trend toward higher carbon mineralization was observed during the first 10 days under the Fung ×10 treatment. In contrast, at the ×1 dose, biocontrol treatments showed limited effects on carbon mineralization, with Form and Ext showing responses comparable to the control. Overall, plant-based biocontrol treatments showed limited effects on soil microbial functioning under the tested conditions, whereas the synthetic fungicide induced short-term functional disruptions. These findings highlight the importance of considering soil microbial responses in the environmental assessment of plant-protection products.
SN - 0929-1393
SN - 1873-0272
ER -